An Englishman: Dear Benzol: I'm sure about his last name. I'll have to dig through a lot of game scores--I'm one of the last players Powell faced before he died. He won; I fought hard, but he was simply better than me.

offramp: <ughaibu: The database only gives two Fischer losses to the Dragon and no examples after 1970. Here's the other game: Fischer vs D Ballard, 1964> That other major dragon-killer, Karpov, lost just the once to the Dragon - to Kortschnoj in their 1971 training match.

An Englishman: Good Evening: I apologize for completely forgetting about this thread. I had done some research and spoke to friends of the late Mr. Powell. <Caissanist> is correct, this is the same person and the same game. So it wasn't the last *tournament* game Fischer lost to an untitled player. Which leaves open the question of what game of any kind was the last Fischer lost to an untitled player. Who knows? This could be it.

This was one of the few times that Fischer was taken by surprise apparently.

The fact that he lost this game made him adopt this manoeuvre of centralising his Queen for himself in later games, though he was not always as successful with it as the player from Ecuador in this 1960 game.

awdunno: From the time Fischer became a GM until his retirement, this was his only loss to the Dragon. The most remarkable thing is that he lost in a variation (...a6) considered to this day to be dubious at best, and, furthermore, that he lost to a relatively ordinary player (relative to Fischer, that is). I mean, who's Cesar Munoz? All I know about him is that he played top board for Ecuador in the Leipzig Olympiad of 1960. Does anyone know if he ever became a GM or even an IM?

timhortons: <benzol> he lost to larsen,spassky, najdorf in the middle of piatogorsky cup 66 tourney.......when the smoke cleared in that tournament bobby fischer shot from the cellar to the top that even spassky who win that tourney claim that it was bobby fischers tournament "he did better than me" ....borris spassky

Some call me Tim: I'm with you <RookFile> Every player, even a great one, loses occasionally. And sometimes it isn't pretty. Munoz just played very well and threw Bobby off his usual Yugoslav Attack which requires pinpoint timing. Munoz, an unknown who was never above NM level as far as I can tell, also tossed Larsen once, and with an underpromotion no less. Larsen vs C Munoz, 1957

Fischer's loss to Kovacevic 1970 was a simple oversight, not something to psychoanalyze, and as sometimes is the case the lesser player rose to the occasion nicely. His Bxh2 in the first match game against Spassky 1972 is the same, a hasty miscalculation. Those who say Fischer played that move purposely to allow Spassky the win and become overconfident (if this is the "theory") have no understanding of this player. He dreaded loss, absolutely and viscerally. He hated draws (except in the last third of his match with Spassky), but losses and the fear of them had a profound impact on his behavior. IMO it led to his inability to defend his title. In his last playing years (1970-1972) he didn't lose much but at times when he did he was simply outplayed in a difficult position (Spassky at Siegen 1970), others he just failed to appreciate dangers through overconfidence and overwhelming desire to win (Kovacevic game, 2nd game vs Petrosian 1971, 1st and 11th games vs. Spassky). Yet the number of games where he turned equally complex positions into wins by deft balance of attack and defense in those years greatly outnumbered the failures. An excellent example, and one which must have deflated his overoptimistic opponent, is the 1st match game against Larsen in 1971. Play through that one and tell me Fischer was uncomfortable in sharp double-edged positions. Fischer vs Larsen, 1971

andrevicuna: as everyone asks. he is from ecuador, he actually is my grandaunt (the aunt of my dad), he grew his interest for chess when he was young, he won a lot of chess tournaments here in ecuador, he was the minister of sports and he earned other titles, lawyer; he dindt even finished the carrer becaouse he said that no one can teach him, little bit arrogant but true, he was considered ''superdotado'' i dont know how to say it in english, sorry. well, its true, he beated bobby because he did a bad movement, it always happans, but you must admit, Cesar is a really good chess player. this is most of his life, hope its usefull for you.

Cibator: The so-called "science" suffered its own ultra-viole[n]t catastrophe here. Fischer pried open the h-file all right, but never got in even one sac (part from "involuntary" ones), let alone mate. And he never got another chance to snap off the [Dragon] bishop after his 18th move.

DrMAL: After 13.g4! Fischer had solid advantage but his follow-through was unusually poor, playing 14.Bh6?! instead of 14.Nd5 and then after getting big advantage via mistakes anyway, losing it again with 17.h4?! instead of 17.Bxg7 Kxg7 18.g5! (or 18.Rhe1 in center instead). After 18.Bf5?! (instead of 18.Bxg7 still good) game was equal. Munoz did good job of playing accurately here while Fischer went haywire with 22.e5? a reckless attack that should, and did, lose. Terrible game for him, everyone has some.

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